(Dis)continuities in academic middle management career trajectories: a longitudinal qualitative study

ABSTRACT

Department heads are central in the university setting as an important buffer between university leadership and academic staff. However, taking on a middle management role can lead to significant disruptions in academic careers. To investigate the career trajectories of 31 academics in middle management roles, two waves of semi-structured interviews were conducted in 2015–16 (N = 31) and 2021 (N = 26). By exploring (dis)continuity in academic careers and (dis)engagement with participants’ managerial roles, we identified four types of trajectories that appeared to influence participants’ possibilities of future academic career development. We labelled these trajectories as follows: temporary managers, early managers, duty-served senior managers, and acclaimed managers. We argue that temporary managers, who are appointed to a fixed-term managerial position early in their academic careers, face the highest risk of disruptions in their academic career development, while duty-served senior managers, who are appointed to a fixed-term managerial position later in their careers, represent the most sustainable group.

KEYWORDS:

• Leadership
• higher education
• academic careers
• academic managers
• academic development

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Due to the nature of this research, participants of this study did not agree for their data to be shared publicly; accordingly, supporting data are not available.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Czech Science Foundation research grant GA 20-13732S, RVO 68081740 and the NPO “Systemic Risk Institute” number LX22NPO5101, funded by European Union – Next Generation EU.